Copyright This work is still under copyright. Cathleen Sabine Mann died in 1959; copyright lasts 70 years after the artist’s death, so it remains in force until 2029. The image is shown here for classroom reference; rights remain with the rights holder.
In context
Jane Posing — Cathleen Sabine Mann
The original measures 115 × 81 cm (height × width), drawn here beside an adult of average height.
Row above: the years. Row below: how old the artist was at the start and at the end of each span — 0 at birth, 63 at death.
Painted when the artist was 35. The artist lived to 63. 1 of the 13 dated works by this artist in our catalogue came earlier.
Shaded: the lifetime of Cathleen Sabine Mann (1896–1959) ▲ this work, 1931 every dated painting, decade by decade
First works: up to 1933 Main working years: 1933–1944 Late works: from 1944
Those three bands split the works this catalogue has a date for into a first quarter, a middle half and a last quarter. They are not the artist’s complete output: a thin stretch may be a gap in the record rather than a quiet spell. The same years with the artist’s life laid along them
Pick one work above: name two things it shares with this one, and one thing that's different.
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Measured from the image
Main colour
Espresso #3d3b41
Catalogued palette
These colours inside the artist’s whole palette Find other paintings by colour
The ten leading countries
Find the three darkest countries on the map. Is the museum that keeps this painting in any of them? Write down one reason people far away might look at it.
Together these works take 100.0% of all the attention this artist's paintings received over the last twelve months. The catalogue holds 14 works by this artist, of which 4 were looked at at least once. This painting has not been looked at yet in that time — it closes the list without a rank. The same counts, month by month
Bars measure attention, not quality. Pick the work at the top and this one: name one thing that might make a painting famous beyond how well it is painted.
Artist and museum
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Cathleen Mann began her days in Newcastle upon Tyne, born to parents who lived through the brush and pigment. Her father, Harrington Mann, and her mother, Florence Sabine Pasley, were both portraitists, providing a childhood shaped by the quiet work of the studio. She learned to paint within her father's London studio, receiving early lessons that would later lead her to the Slade School of Fine Art and eventually to Paris. These formative years were marked by the steadying influence of Ethel Walker, another painter who continued to guide her even as Cathleen pursued her own studies.
The rhythms of her life changed with the arrival of the First World War. The studio was left behind for the work of an ambulance unit, a period that placed her in the middle of a much larger, more chaotic reality. When she returned to her art, her focus remained on the human form and the quiet details of life. She became known for portraits and landscapes, often capturing women and children with a careful eye for the subtle shifts in emotion. Her work found homes in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Musée du Luxembourg, and the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.
During the 1930s, her hands were busy with more than just canvas. She moved into the world of British film, working as a costume designer. This period saw her contributing to the visual fabric of films such as:
The Iron Duke (1935)
Things to Come (1937)
Backstage (1937)
Forbidden Music (1936)
The Show Goes On (1936)
Evensong (1934)
Chu Chin Chow (1934)
The Wandering Jew (1933)
Her design work left a physical trace in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum. At the same time, her painting continued to evolve. In 1934, she produced Ballerina, an oil on canvas that shows a woman on a couch with a black cat nearby. Her later years brought a shift toward abstraction. Influenced by Matthew Smith, she began experimenting with landscapes of increasing abstraction, nude drawings, and sculpture. This period of experimentation followed the personal losses of 1953, when her husband, John Robert Follett, passed away.
The Second World War brought a different kind of responsibility. Mann served as an official war artist, painting portraits of officers and Allied commanders. These works were seen in London and traveled to America, sometimes appearing in the pages of Time magazine. Beyond the canvas, she used her position as the Marchioness of Queensberry to assist others during the bombing of 1940. She worked to secure transport by road and rail to move people to safety in the dock district of south West Ham.
Her career was defined by a movement between the structured world of portraiture and the fluid experimentation of her later years. She held memberships in both the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Her portraits, such as those of Sir Matthew Smith and Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, remain in the National Portrait Gallery in London. She died in 1959 in her studio on Montpelier Walk, Brompton.
Every fact we hold on Jane Posing by Cathleen Sabine Mann, on its artwork page
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For art students and researchers
Jane Posing — Cathleen Sabine Mann
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To preview a reproduction of "Jane Posing" by Cathleen Sabine Mann, open the artwork's Preview page.
The recorded values for "Jane Posing" by Cathleen Sabine Mann are: bright brightness, gentle luminance luminance.
The X-Ray view of "Jane Posing" by Cathleen Sabine Mann is on the artwork's X-Ray page: an interactive examination of the image through eleven optical layers.
The format of "Jane Posing" is portrait, and the original measures 115 x 81 cm. Both are useful when planning a reproduction.
The colors of "Jane Posing" show a gentle luminance luminance.